I think he's good at tailoring himself to whatever he thinks will validate the priors of his audience (edgy leftist ant-imperialism excuse to his edgy left gf/side chick), and when he doesn't know what that is (primary electorate in Maine) he just lies
the alleged new platner tattoo info (him explaining to the left wing woman why he kept it after learning about it since it is like a tangible reminder of imperialism) is the first time it actually checks out to me aside from general "dumb guy" and/or "lazy" explanations